Add another to the tally of confirmed wolf kills on livestock in Wallowa County, from six to seven. The sheriff's office and USDA Wildlife Services led the investigation shortly after owner Bob Lathrop found the mangled carcass of his once healthy 500-pound heifer calf.
The calf was located on Lathrop's property about 15 to 20 miles north of Joseph near Crow Creek Road in the Zumwalt area. The owner had noticed the calf missing and found the carcass at about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
"I treated the site as a crime scene," said Sheriff Fred Steen.
Steen voiced anger after the investigation, telling the story of a local livestock industry in peril because of the growing presence of the wolf in the county.
The federal government introduced a predator that is now coming onto private property destroying personal property. This is the second calf he's lost in the last half-year or so, said Steen.
After the sheriff's office and Wildlife Services confirmed the wolf kill, Steen said he submitted his report and that US Fish and Wildlife has followed up on the report.
Investigation photos show different angles of the damaged carcass, and two near four-inch wide wolf paw prints taken from the soft dirt around the attack site.
The investigation showed that the calf was likely held and subdued by the nose and front right leg. The calf's right front elbow had been bitten off completely.
The wolves then went to work on the calf's hind end taking out the back legs and continuing forward through the entrails. The thick pelvis bone of the calf was chewed in two showing the strength of the bite, and it appeared as though the wolves had crawled up inside the body cavity as they fed. The wolves consumed about 60 pounds of meat before leaving the carcass.
There is a lot of attack trauma and many bites. Lacerations and the bruising were made when the animal was alive. They worked on it and then began eating it alive. The calf was alive for a fair amount of time, said Steen.
This latest attack on livestock comes as wolf numbers grow to at least 21 wolves in the county with 14 residing in the Imnaha area, according to OSU extension agent John Williams and rancher/wolf coordinator Rob Childers.
Williams and Childers led Wolves in Wallowa County, a public information meeting, which fell coincidentally on Thursday, Sept. 23, one day after the confirmation of the latest wolf kill.
Given expected wolf numbers in the county, economists suggest that livestock producers should factor in a loss of $260 per head due to wolf predation, according to Williams and Childers. The number is a very preliminary estimate but remains consistent with economic impacts measured in other areas of the Rocky Mountain region where economists have estimated losses between $200 and $280 per head of cattle because of wolf depredation, said Williams. This number distributes the dollar loss due to wolf predation averaged over the entire herd and should not be confused with the $850 value of each head of cattle.
Early attempts by area ranchers to work with the agencies to rid the county of wolves were unsuccessful, according to Childers. Because of the listing of the wolf on the nation's endangered species rolls, ranchers are put in a position where they have no legal lethal means of eradicating the predator.
A group of local livestock producers have joined together to try and start a locally supported wolf compensation fund to help absorb some of the losses they face. The plan is still in the early stages of development.
The ranchers hope to start either a non-profit organization or to work with the county to form an elected board to guide the program.
The local Stock Growers Association has approved the concept, and the idea will next be presented to the Oregon cattlemen's association for their support, said Childers. Once they've presented the idea to the various organizations, local cattlemen will take their plan to counties in the region and then on to Oregon legislators.
A locally led effort is also working with Oregon legislators to urge the adoption of a list of five new laws to help protect against problems caused by the presence of the wolf. The plan has been presented to legislators and would allow residents to protect private property by killing wolves. Local ranchers also request that the USDA work as the lead agency dealing with livestock depredation through the kill confirmation process, and for ODFW to have the authorization to use whatever means necessary to remove problem wolves.
http://www.wallowacountychieftain.info/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=61&ArticleID=22361Rancher is fed up and I don't blame him.
